Joel McCrea and Jean Arthur star in the 1943 classic “The More the Merrier.”
(photo courtesy of the Academy Museum)

The George Stevens Lecture presents a newly completed 4K restoration screening of “The More the Merrier” (1943) at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures with special guest Annette Bening on Nov. 22 at 7:30 p.m. The George Stevens Lecture series was established in 1982 in honor of the legendary director to provide a forum where eminent filmmakers and scholars can address the art and craft of motion picture direction.

Filmmaker Christopher Nolan delivered last year’s lecture ahead of a screening of “Shane” (1953). Other past participants in the lecture series include Robert Benton, James Mangold, Gregory Nava, Sidney Poitier, Steven Spielberg and Robin Swicord. For this edition, five-time Oscar-nominated Bening joins us before the screening to share her thoughts and admiration for the film.

George Stevens directed this classic romantic comedy just before joining the United States Army Signal Corps in 1943 to lead a unit shooting footage of World War II in Europe. An unusually topical romantic comedy, the film is set against the backdrop of the wartime Washington, D.C., housing shortage. Charles Coburn won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his charming performance as the benevolent millionaire who appoints himself a matchmaker for his landlady (Jean Arthur) and a handsome young sergeant (Joel McCrea) as the three strangers share a crowded apartment. With sparkling dialogue and undeniable chemistry between Arthur and McCrea, the film was further nominated for Best Picture, Original Story (Robert Russell, Frank Ross), Screenplay (Russell, Ross, Richard Flournoy, and Lewis R. Foster) and Best Actress for Arthur’s effervescent lead. It also earned Stevens the first of his five Oscar nominations for Directing; he won twice, for “A Place in the Sun” (1951) and “Giant” (1956). The Academy presented Stevens with the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1953.

The Academy Museum is located at 6067 Wilshire Blvd. For information, visit academymuseum.org.